Please Read and Please Join in Prayer

Today I am asking if you read this post to please pray for a dear family in Martin's Mill who lost their husband/father/grandfather early this morning. This family has been such a blessing to many many people over many many years and I asking for prayers in their time of need. They have done countless things for me and my family personally. I pray they will be comforted and blessed in their time of need in the same way they have provided comfort and blessings for others.

Also, please pray for my hometown, Quitman, as they face a horrible tragedy. Losing a 15 year old girl and some still injured from an accident taking place yesterday afternoon. Please also remember the teachers and teacher driving the vehicle. Being a teacher I can't even begin to comprehend the emotions they are feeling. Pray for the families of those involved. Pray for the students. Please pray for the entire community.

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." Romans 8:26

I am thankful for the Spirit to intercede in times like these when we are unsure of words or the exact needs of those we love.

Thank you for taking a moment to pray, to ask the Spirit to intercede for you on behalf of this amazing family in Martin' s Mill and the community of Quitman.

Waffle Week

Since I am at home with nothing to do but sit and "rest" I watch a lot of TV, and I love watching Rachael Ray. This past was waffle week on Rachael Ray - finding  new ways to use your waffle iron. She did brownies, pizzas, sandwiches, all sorts of yummy things. You can find it on her website:

 http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/

When Chris and I were in Italy the food and wine were one of our favorite things! Okay, we probably didn't have a favorite thing because ever bit of Italy was amazing!! However, we savored and devoured many yummy things; the best places to eat were little pizza/sandwich shops on the street. Chris loved the calzones. Here is a photo of one from a restaurant in Rome...it just can't be duplicated!

Rachael Ray did a spin on the calzone in the waffle iron, the wazone, and it looked so good. Now, I did not have the ingredients on hand that she had, but I did have some left over meat, sauce, and cheese from homemade pizzas and a can of biscuits.

This is what ended up in my ever growing belly and it only took about 7 minutes in the waffle iron. It was pretty darn good!

Next time I will use pizza dough, ricotta cheese, basil, tomato, and mozzarella cheese but this was all I had on hand.

Experimenting with the waffle iron is really fun and just might become a new hobby of this pregnant lady!

My Little Man

I love my little man, Reese, so much! I asked him if he would be my date for Valentine's Day tonight (since Chris is at a game) and he was so happy that I asked. He has been wanting to have a picnic outside so bad, but the weather has not been cooperative. I asked if he wanted to do one tonight...he was THRILLED. We went to Wal-Mart for him to pick out our dinner. He chose, Bagel Bites because cooking anything else takes way too long, a pink cake that said love because he loved me, some heart shaped plates and napkins because it's Valentine's Day.

He found a red blanket and put it outside while we cooked the Bagel Bites in the microwave. Reese set the blanket with the plates, napkins, and forks while I brought out the cake. We used the "special black fancy" glasses to hold our Gatorade. Once it was all set we took some pictures of each other then ate our food. We talked about everything from when he is married one day to the shape of the clouds.

Then He wanted to "cling the glasses" but only soft because we didn't need to break them.

After the clinging we got into the cake. It was so good! Reese was trying so hard to be fancy while eating and drinking, "like you do on a date" of course!

Then he looked up at me, started laughing and went face first for the rest of the cake, left on the cake plate!

Man did he make me laugh, we laughed for about 5 minutes after that one!

I am so blessed to have him in my life. He has such a great heart and knows just how to make you feel loved.

"don't hurt my Jesus"

I have shared many stories about my favorite boy, Reese, with you but this one is probably one of my favorites. This particular story happened during the Christmas break but it has really stuck with me and seems to come to mind at least once a day. I spent sometime yesterday thinking about it and what I needed to learn from it...so here it is.

One morning Reese and I were playing around, wrestling and what not and I for some reason found myself with my elbow on his heart. The sweet innocent laughter came to a halt and Reese said, "Mommy stop you are hurting my Jesus!" He had a very serious look on his face and was being quite stern with me. I questioned, "your Jesus?" Reese answered (with a tone of "duh" mom) "Yes Mom, Jesus lives in my heart and that will hurt Him." I then scooped my little man up and gave him a big giant squeeze hug (these are our favorite - in fact Reese has been known to squeeze me so hard that he might toot - and you can never give just one) and many kisses. Of course, I quickly apologized for hurting his Jesus.

He again said this same thing one night at my Mom's house, aka Gammy. Katie's dear friend Amber was over visiting and Reese and Nathan had gone into WILD mode, they were putting on a show for, as Nathan called her, Timber. They were dancing, running, acting like animals, and wrestling. One of their favorite things is for Nathan to wrap Reese up in a big bear hug and tackle him to the ground. Nathan was doing this and landed on Reese's heart. "Nathan, stop it you are hurting my Jesus!" Everyone giggled at Reese's cute remark once I explained what he was meaning. Reese however did not find this funny!



A little picture of what these wrestling matches look like! This is from May 2010

Now Reese took it very literal that Jesus lived in his heart. He wants to protect Him, keep things from hurting Him. He has even got really upset at school because he told a classmate that Jesus lived in his heart and he said He didn't live in his heart. I've tried to explain that physically Jesus is not in his heart, but this a concept he hasn't exactly grasp yet. He knows he prays to Jesus and Jesus has helped him several times, and he knows he has a brother/sister who is with Jesus, but it is hard for him to understand how Jesus lives in his heart and does all these other things.
What if I had Reese's attitude, "don't do that, it will hurt my Jesus!" I am not meaning this in the literal way but figuratively. Why can't I go through the day trying to "protect" and not harm my Jesus? How many things do I say, do, or most often THINK that are hurting my Jesus? I love to see the faith of my child, it is so innocent and so pure. Reese makes loving Jesus and not hurting Him so simple. Why do I make it so hard? I'm going to try to be conscience of what I am doing and work hard not to, "hurt my Jesus!" Thank you Reese for teaching me how to better love my Jesus.

Reese, I love you more than you will ever know! I am so blessed and thankful that your Jesus shared you with me and I get the privilege of raising you. I pray that when the day comes you pick Jesus and I have done everything I could to help you get there. You are such an amazing boy with such a big heart. God has big plans for you Reese Austin Hightower!

Reese and I on Mother's Day 2010

STRESS

I have been really stressed out the past week and today seems to be more overwhelming that I want to let it be. I love Josh Wilson's music, his song "Before the Morning" has got me through many many rough days. This song, "Savior, Please" is one that really touches me when I am heavy with the weight of anxiety.

Please say a little prayer for me, my family. I'm not going to going into the details but I am trying really hard, "to be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make [my] requests known to [my] Father." (Philippians 4:6) I'm trying hard to believe that once I do that, "the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard [my] heart and mind in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7)

I am thankful for a Savior that will keep saving me when I am so unworthy. I am thankful that I have scripture to help me remember what matters and that God doesn't leave, even when times are hard.

I'm feeling better already. It's amazing what a little prayer, God's word, your family, and some music can do to your lift your spirits. Not to mention letting it all out instead of trying to keep it in and handle it myself.

Count your blessings today and thank your Savior for continuing to save you!

Coach Hightower

"Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results." James 5:16

I love my husband. I love him for the man that he is, and the man that he is becoming. I have seen my husband grow so much this year, mostly through stressful situations. I have seen him pray for his boys, open God's word to search for advise, and do the best he can to lead them in a positive manner with unconditional love and encouragement. Now, I will admit it does make me a little jealous at times...I selfishly want him to not have practice on Saturdays or at 6:00 on Monday mornings, not watch film on nights he is home, etc. However those thoughts soon fade when I remember what is he is doing and what he is called to do. I have truly seen James 5:16 in Chris this year, and I know one day he will see something too.

Many people don't really understand the HOURS a coach spends working towards leading his/her team. I understand because I have two of them in my family. I can tell you there is not one night at our house where Chris is not working on basketball: reading blogs, books, things from other coaches, or scripture to find encouragement for his boys, watching film to make scouting reports or watching film to grade his own players, talking to more veteran experienced coaches to seek their wisdom, he is constantly doing whatever he can to improve his coaching in order to benefit his team.
Chris has seen many trials his first year as a head coach, but what he doesn't see are the things that I see and more importantly the things is Father sees.

As you can see from the picture his theme for the team this year was Colossians 3:23 and this is something he has tried to focus on not just on the basketball court but with their families, school work, and friends. I have seen those boys grow this year from the summer to now. I see them working harder, not quitting, persevering because they are giving it their heart.

I fall more in love with Chris every time I hear him encourage one of the boys, every time I see him discipline one of his boys, every time I see the Bible open, every time I find him seeking Godly advise for a situation, every time I see the smile on his face when he is so proud of something they have done. It makes me smile because I know that just as he is smiling because he feels proud of those boys, his Father is smiling because He feels proud of Chris.

I just wanted to take a moment to share publicly how proud I am of my husband and what he is doing. I keep reminding him of Galatians 6:9,

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

Basketball is about winning, but in the bigger picture it's not about winning a game it is about winning for the Kingdom. Yes he may have 12 losses but that is nothing in comparison to the harvest that will be reaped in Heaven. All the circumstances Chris has faced this year have only made him stronger in his faith and the way he has chosen to handle each of them (very few people see or hear what happens behind the scenes of a situation) proves that he is planting seeds for the Kingdom.

Maybe you are going through circumstance after circumstance and can't find the good - remember Galatians 6:9 and do not give up. The victory will happen one day.

Beautiful

"The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord." Psalm 45:11

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this song from Mercy Me - it plays all the time I know, but it is just so good. I'm not sure if it is the pregnancy hormones or the big stomach I'm sporting these days that make me turn it up everytime I hear it.

As I was listening for the third time last night on the way home from a Super Bowl party I kept thinking about Rozlynn. I pray that she knows she is beautiful because she is a child of the King and no other reason. I then began to think about a long list of former students and current students (it it counts that I am still listed as the teacher) that need to be reminded of this simple fact: they are beautiful. My heart just breaks for these young girls who are searching in so many ways to feel beautiful. I think a lot of this is our fault, the more "mature" ladies in their lives. What sort of message am I sending these beautiful young ladies about what makes us beautfiul...or am I sending the wrong message about body image? Yes, we are to be healthy and I am 100% about promoting that, but I think I can stop the negative talk about myself and spend more time talking about how being healthy on the outside is a reflection of being healthy on the inside. It starts with realizing who you are and who you were meant to be, beautiful. If I'm being honest I need to remember that fact as well, as do many other ladies who I am lucky enough to call my friends.

Anyway, I'm not sure if that is even clear - my mind seems to be mush today. (Not having the best of days.) I do know that I pray that Rozlynn will learn what makes her beautiful and that I do my part to lead her in the right direction, to not focus on what other's think she needs to be. I ask you today to pray for many teenage girls, being in the school with junior high and high school students I can tell you they are searching. They need to know they are beautiful and what that truly means, the world and media send them the wrong message daily. These girls are beautiful, thank you to Mercy Me for this song.

Wishing you all a fabulous week full of many blessings. It will be a busy one for the Hightower family we have 3 away games, man I'm already tired. Hopefully I will start to feel better ASAP, I have to head to North Hopkins tonight for game 1 of the week.

(Have I mentioned how proud I am of my husband and what he has been doing this year? That's another post coming soon)